Today I had the problem with the server disconnecting from network multiple times. I had originally thought it was the network card in server. Today I decided to check the switch I was using. Once I unplugged it and plugged it back in the lights for duplex and link status never stopped blinking, this was bad. I then lifted it up and found that it was VERY hot. Also it appears it had gotten so hot as to change the colors of the plastic from blue to red. It was a 5 port 10/100 switch from linksys that has served me well for many years but it seems to have died. I went out to Best Buy and got a new Netgear 5 port 10/100/1000 switch. I always liked the small netgear switches. I still have a 8 port 10/100 that is almost 10 years old that is in use today. The new one is also a nice metal little switch. I would have gotten an 8-port, but there was none in stock and I was a little desperate. We will see if this solves the issue of the server becomming mysteriously disconnected from network randomly. If it doesn't I will throw in a spare 3Com PCI-X gigabit card.
June 2007 Archives
While I was down in Orlando for TechEd Kelly came down to join me for a small vacation. She arrived late Wednesday night on June 6th. While I went to the conference during the day on Thursday Kelly went to Seaworld Orlando to pass the day. She was there from 11 AM to 5 PM or so. She got to see most the shows and didn't really care to ride the rides much.
On Thursday night was the TechEd attendee party at Universal Studios Orlando: Islands of Adventure. We left the hotel on a bus about 6:30 PM and arrived at the park a few minutes before 7 PM. We entered the park through the "back door" in the Jurassic Park area. I first went to Dueling Dragons which was a lot of fun. I literally couldn't walk because I was so dizzy when I got off the ride. After this point I will get what we did right, but the order is probably wrong. We went to a stunt show about Sindbad. It was fun and often happened in the middle of the audience. Afterward we went to eat, while we were eating the thunderstorms rolled in. This caused all of the roller coasters to close due to lightning.
After the rain slowed we headed over to Seuss Landing. Once there we rode the Caro-Suess-El a couple of times. We later rode One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. We headed over to Toon Lagoon as well. While there we walked around Me Ship, The Olive and then rode Popeye & Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges. One thing about this white water raft ride is there are several points where people can spray you with water cannons to make sure you get wet.
The last thing I rode was The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man which was a 3-D moving cart ride. It was lots of fun and even fairly long. While I was inside Spider-Man came out for pictures and apparently took up position right in front of Kelly. She is now immortalized in probably hundreds of pictures as the background. We then headed out around 10:30 PM hoping to beat the really big rush at the exit. It was a good night, it would have been better with no rain and all the rides running. I am sure I am forgetting something that Kelly will fill in later in the comments.
After many delays, forgotten dates and very nearly a summons I did my civic duty and showed up for Jury duty today. I showed up a few moments before 9 AM at the Baltimore County Circuit Court to check in. There was a quite a long line, but it was moving fast. They gave me my $15 and validated my parking. I took a seat in the large and comfortable seating area. After everyone checked in they told us how the day would go, mostly waiting. Then they showed us a video that was a good 20-25 years old judging by clothing. The video explained the jury selection process and what happens after you get selected. They also said you used to have to serve for 30 days instead of 1, that is amazing I guess you just essentially left work for a month.
After the video they put on some movie that I can't remember. I moved to one of the "quiet" areas. I sat there for about an hour. Then two ladies began discussing how they will do anything necessary to get out of sitting for a trial, things like panic attacks and such. They kept saying that they shouldn't be hear since they didn't go to school like judges and lawyers and how could anyone be expected to pay attention in court. Their ignorance was simply stunning. The last thing I heard before I got up to leave was "What is a docket?" after they announced one docket was cleared and they were waiting on the other. I just couldn't stand them and was afraid they would notice the faces I was making at them and so I moved to the other quiet area.
I read the entire book Feed cover to cover during the day. About 12:30 they released us for lunch until 1:30 PM. About 2:30 PM I finished the book and moved back into the main room. They were now showing Father of the Bride 2. I began to play my DS which I thankfully brought with me. At about 3:00 PM they called number 2-92 to be selected, I was 120. At about 3:30 PM a judge came down and made a quick speech thanking us for sitting around for the day and telling us how important it is to be able to sit a jury promptly to prevent delays in the justice system. He then released us for the day.
I know most people think jury duty is just a pain in the ass, and to some degree I agree. However it is a very necessary part of the justice process. Most people seemed to be ok with doing their duty, others though I just wanted to shake and say you are an idiot.
Well I got back home just before 5 PM today. I fixed the server, sorry about the outage for those that noticed. The Ethernet adapter flaked out it seems, just had to unplug and plug it back in. Not sure what caused it.
I will write up a bunch more details of Disney trip with Kelly in the next day or so.
http://interdictor.livejournal.com/118603.html
Just go look at the graphic there. It is amazing. The other thing for me is I live in the suburbs of Baltimore, MD so it is good to see it is still represented. Also Richmond, VA is there which isn't too far away either. Good to know my chances are so high of being murdered.
Kelly dropped me off at BWI at about 8 AM this morning. I had checked in online and printed a boarding pass (with my new printer, notes on that another time) but I still had to check in my bag. That line seemed to take longer than it should since all people should be doing is showing boarding pass and getting bag tag printed. Once I had my bag checked I headed to security.
At this point it was 8:30 AM or so. The line was being held up by a group of people lead by a teacher from my school. She was oblivious to her disturbance, which knowing her is not surprising. When I got to the person who checks boarding pass and ID she remarked that I was quite early. The response I wanted to give was that it is often necessary to be that early due to TSA lines, however I just took my pass and moved on.
I boarded Airtran flight 445 on time. However we were not able to leave on time. Apparently the baggage conveyor belt broke. This meant that bags had to be manually moved and loaded. We ended up leaving about 20 minutes late.
As I mentioned I have been sick all week leading up to this. One benefit to flying is the pressure drops as you take off and ascend. This allowed my sinuses to open up and empty to some degree. I was able to blow my nose and clear some out. It actually felt good to be able to hear for a while.
Now as many of you probably have guessed by now the reverse happens when the plane descends. The pressure began building up again. I am used to this in normal situations and I can usually pop me ears easily, this time not so much. One sinus was relatively clear and ok, the other was not. My left ear / right sinus (I don't know how it works in the body, just where the pressure was) kept increasing in pressure and rapidly was getting painful. It felt like my forehead near my right eyebrow was going to explode, this was by far the most painful flying had ever been. Luckily I got it to pop a little and released some of the pressure.
When I got to the airport and got my bag I had to decide how to get to hotel. Microsoft always provides great transportation at TechEd and back to the airport but nothing from airport. The cabs started at $40 so I decided to take a Mears shuttle for $17. The wait was supposed to be 15-45 minutes, it was closer to 45.
After I checked into the Rosen Plaza Hotel I headed over to the convention center. You can find the rest of the story and lots of posts from me over at my TechEd Blog.
As I mentioned previously I think all the shopping and being around people got me sick. I started to have a scratchy throat on Monday night. Then I went downhill rapidly at work on Tuesday. By Tuesday night I was not feeling well. I stayed home Wednesday and Thursday and did nothing but lay in bed and sleep. I was not awake more than 8 hours either day. I am pretty sure I had some kind of flu. I had a mild fever at times but was mostly very weak and was stuffed up.
Friday I went into work mostly because I was going to be out for the next week and needed to get some stuff done. I was not well yet, but I was better. I stayed in my office and didn't move around much. I was able to get most of what I wanted done, even if it did take me until 6:30 PM.
I mostly rested on Saturday to prepare for my trip on Sunday. Now Sunday night I am about 85%, I am still a little weak and my sinus are still stuffed up. More on that in the flight notes.
When Kelly moved in (wait I mentioned that didn't I, that Kelly moved in? Well if I didn't I am now, Kelly moved in) we were unable to fit her gigantic hide a bed couch in my computer room where it was destined. It literally wouldn't fit in the hallway to the room, let alone through the door and into the room. We donated it to the Goodwill (or Salvation Army, I can't remember because it was hard to find someone to take it). Since then we have been looking for a new couch.
We decided to get a L-shaped sectional to best utilize the space we have available in living room. Kelly started by going to a few shops on a day off she had. I then went with her to the stores to look at them as well. We liked one at Scan but we wanted to keep looking. Last Sunday during Memorial day weekend we went to Columbia. We found a small area (mostly industrial park) that had about 10 furniture stores. We looked at lots of couches. We found another one we liked at Indoor Scan.
We went back and forth to Scan and Indoor testing the couches. We finally settled on one from Indoor. I don't remember the exact spelling of the company but I am sure Kelly will leave it in a comment. We ordered it last Sunday and it should arrive in 4-8 weeks. That was another factor in deciding Scan said 3-4 months for delivery.
The only downside to this day of shopping is I am pretty sure it got me sick.
